Save Article

That Strange Hissing Sound

By

Lisa Singh

Updated Sept. 27, 2002 12:01 a.m. ET

The sign reads, "We Proudly Brew Starbucks."

Enter Cabell Library at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va., and the first thing you must do is dismiss those old notions of bookish reverence: scholars bent over dusty pages, the hush of quiet reading, the scratching sound of notes being taken and, all around, stacks of...